NDC Intern: Arlo Nasruk Davis

Anchorage, AKJuly 8, 2014

Hello everybody! My name is Arlo Nasruk Davis. My mother is Martha Ramoth Schindler from Selawik and my father is Joe Davis. My aanas are Emma Ramoth and Jan Fanistal, and my taatas are Ralph Ramoth Sr. and Art Davis.

This summer, I am working as an intern in the communications and marketing department at NANA Development Corporation in Anchorage. I’m excited to be a part of the NANA family of businesses and I am especially looking forward to sharing stories about amazing people who are doing inspiring work all over the state and the nation. Part of my job will be to bring updates and information to everyone through our online resources: Facebook, our website and in newsletters. I’ll also be interviewing all our interns—to share their stories about who they are and what they are learning. Many of them will be working down in the Lower 48 in Herndon, Virginia.

I am a full-time student at the University of Alaska Anchorage, working on my bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in dance. The connection between words and dance is very interesting. It’s a bridge between what can be put into words and what cannot. I think this is an important part of all of our lives, no matter where we live or where we come from.

Interning with NANA is helping me learn about many aspects of writing, research and being a part of a great team that is striving towards excellence in communication. When I graduate in a couple years, I plan to continue on to graduate school to study pedagogy, which is the study of teaching and learning. I’m hoping to find a combined program that will allow me to work on my master’s degree at the same time as my Ph.D. With this, my goal is to be a part of the conversations going on about education. The education of our young people is very important to me.

This year, I was struggling with a paper when a buddy told me something he said to other friends who were also having a hard time with school. He asked them, how many of you are hunters? Almost all raised their hands. He then asked, is there any difference between the challenges we’re faced with when we go out hunting and those we face when things get tough at school? These challenges require the same preparations, processes, and disciplines. When we hunt, we have to get everything ready and do things at the right time. When it is cold out, we accept the weather and live with it. We pay close attention to what is going on around us. When it’s hard, we push through.

The longest paper I have ever written was almost complete, but I was up against the wall. It was due the next day. His sharing of that analogy really helped me to gain an emotional connection and a reason for completing my research and writing. Thinking of writing my paper as sort of like being a modern day hunter helped me push through that wall.

There’s that old saying I remember that sums up what happened that night: “If a person thinks they can do something, they’ll do it”.